Black Seminoles marched from Florida to freedom in Mexico in 1850

Evidence

In 1849, threatened. by slaveraiders, c. armed Black Seminoles under the leadership of John Horse escaped from Florida and conducted a heroic “long march” across slaveholding Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas. Accompanied by some traditional (ie., nonblack) Seminole comrades led by the Seminole chief Coacochee. This amazing feat culminated in their crossing into abolitionist Mexico inJuly 1850; they formed a community in Coahuila that is still called and ordered a series of modification and reforms of “stop and frisk.” — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 138

Categorization

• QUESTION: What became of the Black Seminole community in Coahuila? Is it still extant today?
• CANDY: A forgotten epic: escaped slaves marching across three slave states to Mexico’s border — great dinner-table story.
• XREF: connects to: Traditional Seminoles hold land only through a white family’s goodwill lease — Winona LaDuke, All Our Relations: Native Struggles for…, 218